At one time, Jackie Chan was one of the most popular and beloved actors in the world. He starred in more than 120 films, including such hits as Diner on Wheels, Armor of God, Rush Hour, Tuxedo, Around the World in 80 Days. In 2016, Jackie Chan received an honorary Oscar for outstanding contributions to the cinema, but today almost nothing is heard about him. We tell you where the actor is now, who turned 70 on April 7, 2024.
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Jackie Chan is so rarely written that rumors about his death appear on the Internet from time to time. In fact, the year-old actor is alive and well, but his career is currently focused in China. A series of scandals that have accompanied Chan in recent years played a significant role in this.
In 2023, at the premiere of the film in Beijing, Jackie Chan explained why he gave up a Hollywood career. He accused the Americans of underestimating him.
“I worked there, but no one said my fights were good. No one cared about my fight scenes. So I gave up on Hollywood. Today, I’m proud of my decision. It wasn’t that I wanted to go to Hollywood, but because Hollywood wanted me,” – quotes his Dim Sum Daily.
The actor also advised Chinese action stars to abandon trips to the States and film in their homeland. “Stay in China and develop your skills. When you succeed, people will come looking for you,” he said.
Jackie Chan’s political stance has changed markedly since he became famous in Hollywood. The actor once supported the democratic movement, participated in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Today, he is one of the most famous henchmen of Chinese politics and its propaganda. In 2021, the action star announced that he wants to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
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“I think the Chinese Communist Party is really amazing. The party is doing everything it promises. It doesn’t need 100 years to do this – it will definitely achieve it in just a few decades. I want to be a member of the party!” – said he is at a symposium organized by the Chinese Film Association.
Two years earlier, as Hong Kong was rocked by mass protests against an extradition bill, Jackie Chan told China’s state broadcaster CCTV that he was “saddened and worried about the unrest”. Also, the hero of the militants promised to support the “campaign against the desecration of the state flag” in social networks.
While praising China in interviews and TV shows, Jackie Chan did not forget to criticize the United States from time to time. Washington Post write, that he called America “the most corrupt country in the world” and also blamed it for the financial crisis. Moreover, Jackie Chan called Taiwanese democracy “the biggest joke in the world.” He did not object to censorship in his country. “The Chinese need to be controlled, otherwise they will do whatever they want,” he said.
Not only political statements ruined Jackie Chan’s reputation. In 2015, the actor released an extremely frank and scandalous memoir, where he confessed to extramarital affairs, drunkenness and domestic violence. The actor told how during his glory days he drove while intoxicated. “I was driving drunk all the time. In the morning I crashed my Porsche, and in the evening my Mercedes-Benz. All day I walked like in a fog,” he wrote.
Jackie Chan’s most shocking revelation was about his son Jacey. The star of “Tuxedo” recalled how he lifted the two-year-old boy with one hand and forcefully threw him across the room. Luckily, Jaycee fell onto the couch and was unharmed.
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In one of the Chinese talk shows, Jackie Chan said that once during an argument on the set, he tried to attack the director with a knife. “I was scolded so much, he even mentioned my parents. So I took a knife and wanted to go and cut the director. I said that he can scold me as much as he wants, but he cannot insult my mother,” the actor said. All these confessions made people doubt his image as a “good smiling guy”.
Jackie Chan’s reputation suffered for another, very prosaic and material reason. Criticizing the US for corruption, Jackie Chan found himself embroiled in a tax evasion scandal. In 2016, the actor’s name surfaced in the Panama Papers, which revealed how various high-ranking officials used offshore accounts to hide their wealth.
Chan was reportedly linked to no fewer than six different offshore companies based in the British Virgin Islands. There were rumors that 4 years later, in connection with this, two luxurious apartments in Beijing were confiscated from the actor. By data Vice, the property in which Chan and his family lived for more than 10 years, was sold at auction with a starting price of approximately $14 million.
However, this was not a big loss for such a well-to-do person as Jackie Chan. By data Forbes magazine, in 2016 he was the second highest paid actor in the world and his net worth was 400 million dollars.
